Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

9/29/2004, Typhoon #4, flooding

The day started normally.  While at school, there was quite a bit of rain, but I just figured it was fall rain.  It got stronger and stronger.  At 2:30, they told me I could go home.  Usually, I'd just wait for it to be over, but I had stuff to do, so I took the offer.  The ride home was filled with amazing sights.  You see, my school is on a big hill.  To get home, you drive down the hill.  The water was also rushing down the hill, mostly through these big gutters.  However, if there was something in the gutter, or an inlet, the water would shoot up maybe 2 feet in the air.  I could see water gushing through holes in cement walls.  Water everywhere.  There were maybe 30 or so of these "geysers" on the way down the hill.  In a few places, the bus had to drive through water that was maybe a foot or so deep.

I tried my best to get some pictures with my cell phone of the 'geysers' at the side of the road, but I was inside the bus and if I opened the window, it would get somebody wet.  This was the best I could do, and it is definitely not the most interesting of the sights, but maybe it will give a flavor of the scene.

Here's another picture I took with the cell phone.  It looks like a big brown mess, but that's was a flooded street looks like.

And yet another brown mess.

That night, there was some flooding on the main highway near my house.  In one place, the water was 2 meters (≈6 feet) deep.  The police closed the highway.  All trains in the area were stopped as well.  Many people were stranded in Aioi.  The local 7-11 turned into a mob scene.  Maybe 50 people inside and 50 standing around outside.  The shelves were totally bare.  (Too bad for me, trying to find quick dinner.) One of the English teachers at my school was stuck in Aioi and didn't get home until 4:00 AM.

As is typical with these typhoons, everything was totally normal the next morning and the weather was particularly beautiful.  I hear a number of people had damage to their cars and homes.

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